Summertime Soup and Salad Showcase (with Sandwiches)! - How's that for alliteration?

Hi there!

OK, before I even get started, I confess that the main impetus for this post is to show off various pictures I've taken since May of some of the tastiness I've enjoyed in the past 4 months. So, while the ingredients might not be in season any more, it gives readers something to look forward to next year! Heck, my post about Fall meals still gets the most hits, even in Summer.

This post is mainly a celebration of some of this past Summer's little culinary joys (keep in mind that for me, Summer starts in mid-May and ends with snow), mainly some lovely soups and salads that were made over the course of the season.

We'll start with the soups. You'd think soup wouldn't be a very summery meal, but the right soup can certainly hit the spot if you're in the mood for it, and it's a good way to use vegetables that you might not be interested in eating whole (like beets or fiddleheads).



Fiddlehead Soup (serves 4)

Once again, that lovely fern known as the fiddlehead comes back into my kitchen. What can I say? They're tasty veggie goodness! I cooked more with fiddleheads this Summer than I ever had before. The season was shorter this year, but I got what I could as often as possible. This soup was adapted from a few online sources (especially the use of potato - VERY good as a thickener and this recipe could easily be vegan-ized and still turn out creamy).

- 1 lb. fiddleheads, scrubbed and trimmed (try to remove as much of the brown bits as possible, there have been stories of food poisoning linked to fiddleheads, but in this case you're cooking the heck out of them and they'll be safe, but the brown bits are still nasty)
- 2 tbsp butter (or olive oil for vegan)
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 potato, finely diced
- 2 stalks celery, sliced

- 6 cups vegetable stock

- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tsp coriander
- pinch nutmeg
- pinch cayenne
- 1 cup light cream or 2% milk (use non-dairy substitute for vegan)
- salt and pepper to taste

Directions


- First, you want to blanch your fiddleheads (basically boil in about a centimetre deep of water) for about 10 minutes. Fiddleheads are quite tough and need thorough cooking. Strain and reserve fiddleheads.
- In a pot, melt butter and sauté garlic and onions for about 3 minutes on medium heat.
- Add celery and potatoes and cook for another 5-6 minutes. Add fiddleheads and cook for another 5 minutes. Keep 2-3 fiddleheads per serving aside for garnish.
- Stir in vegetable stock, thyme, coriander, nutmeg and cayenne.
- Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low (3-4).
- Simmer for about 35-45 minutes, then stir in milk or cream.
- Simmer for another 10 minutes and turn off heat. Season to taste.
- Using an immersion blender, puree soup until a thick consistency is reached. If you don't have an immersion blender, you can use a normal blender, but make sure you allow air to escape and cover the hole with a damp towel. Otherwise, the steam will get trapped in the blender and cause it to blow up all over your kitchen. Not good when dealing with hot soup.
- Serve soup hot with reserved fiddleheads as garnish. Serve with your favourite sandwich or on its own.


The high-end version of "Soup n' Sammich Combo"





Summer Borscht (serves 4)



I call this "Summer Borscht" because of it's bright golden colour, not what you'd expect when thinking of beets. Really, though, it works just the same with regular beets. While traditional borscht often calls for sour cream, I went with yogurt in this case and it was really tasty. If you don't know, borscht is basically a beet soup of Slavic origin. The thing that made this recipe sing was to roast the beets before cooking them in the soup. I also added some shredded zucchini, certainly not an element of traditional borscht, for body and a bit of extra veggie goodness. So, let's get to it!



Ingredients

- 1 lb. golden beets (or regular red beets), scrubbed clean and green tips removed.

- 1 tbsp olive oil + 1 tsp for drizzling on beets (see below)

- 1 tbsp butter

- 1-2 carrots, sliced very thin

- 1-2 celery stalks, sliced very thin
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp caraway seed
- 1 tsp celery seed
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 cup shredded zucchini
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 2 tbsp white wine vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
- 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
- 1 tsp fresh sage, chopped

- plain, Balkan-style yogurt to serve

- salt and pepper to taste



The simple joy of making soup

Directions

- Preheat oven to 350 F
- Take a large sheet of foil, lay beets out flat and drizzle with olive oil and salt, wrap foil tightly and roast beets in the oven until tender (about 20 minutes). Remove and allow to cool slightly. Once cooled, peels beets (the skins come off very easily once roasted) and set aside.
- Melt butter in a pot on medium heat and add 1 tbsp olive oil. Once butter and oil have heated, stir in carrots, celery, onion, garlic, caraway seed, celery seed and dried thyme. Cook vegetables until soft, stirring frequently (about 10-15 minutes).

- Stir in roasted beets and cook for another minute or so.

- Stir in shredded zucchini, vegetable stock and white wine vinegar. Bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to medium-low (3 or 4) and allow soup to simmer and reduce for about 30-40 minutes. In the last 10 minutes or so, make the Open-faced Cheese Toasts (see below).
- Once soup has finished simmering, puree using immersion blender (see instructions in previous recipe).
- Serve hot with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream and an Open-faced Cheese Toast.



Mmmmmm, melty...

 Open-faced Cheese Toasts

- 2 slices dense pumpernickel bread

- 2 tbsp basil pesto

- 1 tomato, cut into 6 slices (I used yellow tomato, but any will do!)

- 1 cup grated extra-old cheddar

- 2 sprigs cilantro (optional garnish)

Basically, just place on a cookie sheet and broil until cheese melts. Remove from oven and garnish with cilantro. Use parchment paper to avoid getting melted cheese stuck on your cookie sheet. It sucks, don't let it happen to you!



The finished product!

Next is a simple but unconventional salad featuring some of the best produce to be found in late Summer. 

Pepper, Celery and Zucchini Salad w. Feta

When we think of salads, we often think of iceberg lettuce and a few random veggies drowning in some creamy dressing. Personally, I can't stand a ton of dressing and iceberg lettuce has about ZERO nutritional value or taste. My salads are usually spinach-based, but sometimes I just want a whack of crunchy veggies. The following basically falls into that category.

Salad

- 1 red pepper, either coarsely diced or julienned
- 1 yellow, either coarsely diced or julienned
- 2 stalks celery, thinly sliced

- 1 yellow zucchini, sliced (about 1/2 inch thick)

- 1 green zucchini, sliced (about 1/2 inch thick)
- 3 tbsp crumbled feta cheese

Dressing

- 1/4 cup olive oil

- juice of half a lemon

- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

- 1 tsp dry basil
- salt and pepper to taste

Basically just toss all ingredients with the dressing and serve!

BONUS: Subtly Spicy Burgers (I made these to go with the above salad).

There's a multicultural grocery store near my work that sells whole dried chilies like Arbol, Mulatto, Guajillo and Cascabel. All you have to do to make them usable is grind them into powder using a coffee grinder. I strongly suggest that anyone who's serious about making awesome food pick themselves up a cheap coffee grinder for use with whole spices. The difference between grinding your own spices right before use is surprising and well worth the effort.

Now, I was making burgers and just wanted to add a subtle spicy flavour. Basically I took a pound of lean ground beef, added about 1 teaspoon of powdered Guajillo chili (good old fashioned chili powder works well also) and mixed it all together.  Some finely chopped cilantro would also work well in a burger. Next I formed the burgers into 1/4 pound patties, threw them on the grill and there you! The cute flower-pattern bun came from a bakery in the Byward Market (the name escapes me) and I topped it with the ever-popular Sriracha Mayo.



So there you go! Some of the best of the past season. Now that it's Fall, expect some heartier fare to come out! 

And as a parting bonus, here's Kari!



Life is good when you eat gorgeousness on your deck at sunset. Especially with such lovely company! 




Cheers!

 



Not Your Average Sandwich! - 2nd Edition

Hi again!

Before I get started, I have to plug my sweetie's new blog: Love and Food in Ottawa. Basically it's Kari's take on the wide wonderful world of cookery and ingenious uses for vodka.

That being said, it's time for another edition of "Not Your Average Sandwich!", because, well, sandwiches rock! Seriously, if "The Next Food Network Star" is a sandwich guy, what does that tell you?

So, it's no surprise that at the Nick & Kari homestead, we eat a lot of sandwiches. Why? Well, they're easy, they usually encompass all basic food groups, and you can control your portions fairly easily. But who really needs to explain why sandwiches are awesome, I think we all know they are and have our own reasons for that opinion. So let's get to the food, dude!

1 - Reuben Sandwiches w. Oven Fries and Russian Dressing




Reuben Sandwiches with Homemade Russian Dressing and Oven Fries

 

This one was Kari's idea, my execution. Often, on the days I work early, our dinner planning consists of her emailing me a dinner idea and me going with it. So, when she proposed Reuben sandwiches (and bought all the necessary fixins'), I was glad to execute. But, we had nothing to put on the side (except gorgeously fat dill pickles). I figured some homemade oven fries would fit the bill!

So, first off, what's a Reuben? Well, its origins are somewhere in a US deli, but as with most recipes, the details are sketchy. Basically, it's a corned beef sandwich on rye (light or dark? Most recipes I've read don't specify) with Swiss cheese and sauerkraut, then done up grilled cheese style.

Reuben Sandwich (for 1 sandwich, repeat as needed)

Ingredients

- 2 slices rye bread (I prefer dark rye for a Reuben, but light is fine also)
- 3-4 slices corned beef, pastrami or smoked meat (for folks from Eastern Ontario and Quebec, corned beef and pastrami are considered somewhat inferior cousins of smoked meat)
- 2 tbsp sauerkraut
- 1/2 tsp caraway seeds (optional, for the sauerkraut)
- 1/4 cup beer (optional, for the sauerkraut)
- 1 tbsp Russian dressing (recipe to follow or use store bought)
- 1-2 slices Swiss cheese (Emmenthal also counts)

Directions

- First, you may want to fry up the sauerkraut, for two reasons. One, I find that the brine most sauerkraut is kept in is bit too sour. Two, it's very wet coming out of the jar so this helps dry it out a bit. Basically, toss the sauerkraut, caraway seeds and beer (because beer is always good) into a hot pan and stir fry until the sauerkraut starts to brown a little. Remove from heat and put aside in a small bowl.

- Spread a little Russian dressing on the inside of each slice of bread.

- Layer meat on a slice of bread, then sauerkraut, then cheese and top with last slice of bread.

- In a frying pan, melt butter on medium heat and coat pan.

- Carefully place the sandwich onto the hot pan. 

- Fry up sandwich until the first side is crispy and golden and cheese has melted slightly (about 5 mins).

- Using a spatula, and the Force, flip sandwich over, ensuring it stays together.

- Cook for another 5 minutes and serve with fries and a pickle!

 

Mmmmm... pickle...

Oh wait, you say, what about those fries? Well, they're pretty darned easy. Here's how!

Oven Fries

Ingredients

- 3-4 medium-sized potatoes, washed, scrubbed and cut into 1/2 inch thick fries or wedges
- 2-3 tbsp olive oil
- seasoning (get creative! Salt and pepper are just fine, but I usually like to throw in something interesting from the spice rack)

Directions

- Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

- Once you've cut your potatoes, give them a thorough rinse in cold water. Do this 2-3 times. This gets of excess starch and helps make the potatoes more crispy out of the oven. At least that's what I think causes it... Dry potatoes as best as possible using a towel or paper towel. 

- In a large bowl, toss potatoes in oil and seasoning until well-coated.

- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminium foil and spread out potatoes evenly.

- Place in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, turning occasionally.

- Remove fries from the oven and serve with sandwiches and extra Russian dressing for dipping.

Speaking of Russian Dressing:

- Stir together 4 tbsp mayo, 2 tbsp ketchup, 1 tsp minced onion, 1 tsp red wine vinegar and 1/2 tsp black pepper.

And that's that! Serve it all with ice cold beer and enjoy!


Open-faced Arctic Char Gravlax w. Smoky Sour Cream




More Gravlax? Really? DAMN RIGHT!

 OK, OK, I admit it, I have a bit of an obsession with the art of curing and smoking meat and fish. Why? Well, it might have something to do with the fact that both are a form of "hands-off" cooking. There really isn't much work involved past the initial process of setting up a fire or coating a piece of meat in a salt-based cure. But the results when done right? Oooooh Baby! That's good eatin'!

So, as I've posted before, Gravlax is a Scandinavian dish where one salt-cures salmon. Well, when I got to the grocery store, I noticed that the Arctic Char was actually cheaper than the Pacific Sockeye (probably because the Char is farmed), so I decided to give it a try. Of course, that meant having to season it differently as well! Oh no, a chance to tweak a recipe, shucks darn!

Now, the original recipe calls for brown sugar, dill, black pepper and whiskey. Well, small problem, I couldn't find a crumb of dill in the whole kitchen. So, I decided to skip it. But that left a need to add something else to flavour the salmon. Well, since the colour and flavour of Arctic Char is a little lighter than salmon, I figured a lighter flavour would work as well, something yellow and bright. In this case, I squeezed about 1/4 of a lemon's worth of juice, grated about 1 tbsp of grapefruit zest and added about a tbsp of maple syrup. The grapefruit zest was the kicker, it added such flavour and zing. Wonderful stuff! I also, for fun, added a half-teaspoon of a smoky spice rub mixture I picked up at a local farmer's market. So, I mixed that all up with the kosher salt, created the appropriate salt crust to cure the meat, and left it in the fridge for 2 days.

Well, needless to say, the first bite was delightful, with bright flavours. Unfortunately, Gravlax is only for the true fish lover, it will have a 'fishy' flavour to it unless you're using it fresh out of the water. Me, I don't mind so much, but when Kari took a bite, her first reaction was "MMMMMMMM!", her reaction ten seconds later was "Eeeeeeew, low tide!" (be reminded that Kari has been only been eating fish and seafood since we've been dating and she's a hard sell).

Now, no matter how much you love fish and Gravlax, it can't be eaten on its own, it just doesn't work. You need some kind of bread to put it on and something creamy to balance the texture. So, it just so happened that we had this dense organic rye in the fridge (the kind you can find in the supermarket or speciality delis and it's so dense that 5 slices weigh about a kilo). So, I threw that in the toaster (it takes forever to even develop a toasty crust) and about ten minutes later took it out (I kid you not!).

Next, I needed that creaminess and there's nothing better with Gravlax than sour cream! Now, that being said, I find sour cream kind of boring. It needed some kick. So, smoked paprika to the rescue! A pinch of that stirred into a tbsp of sour cream and ka-BLAM!! That sour cream was kickin' like a mule! So I spread that onto the bread, topped it with the Gravlax, and then I needed some garnish. Still without dill, I instead used a little rosemary and more grapefruit zest.

What you had in the end was a flavour roller-coaster. I have become a convert to the Church of Grapefruit Zest with Fish. I think they have a PO Box somewhere in Florida...

So, voila! more sandwichian excellence. Hope you enjoy it!

Cheers!

When Recipes Fail OR The Bride of "Beautiful Screw-Ups"

Hey kids! It's time for more tales of the strange and unexpected in the kitchen!

OK, as I may have mentioned once or twice, I love cookbooks. But not for the reasons you might think. I love cookbooks for tips and methodologies of cooking, not usually for recipes as they're written. Why? Because most of the time I make something out of a cookbook and follow the recipe to the letter (or somewhat closely), it almost always turns out wayyyyy different than expected. Hence, why I tweak most recipes to my own techniques and understanding. But sometimes, especially when dealing with untried methods or ingredients, I have to follow the recipe as best as possible. Case and point: I was looking through Marcus Samuelsson's Soul of a New Cuisine (basically my favourite cookbook) and found a recipe for Coconut-Plantain Stew. It sounded pretty neat so I decided to give it a shot (I think Kari's jumping up and down going "Yes please, those are two of my favourite flavours!" also sealed the deal).

Now, I've never cooked with plantain before, so there was no way I was going to try winging it. For those of you who don't know what plantain is, it's a larger, starchier, less sweet form of banana. You'll often see it fried as a side dish with Caribbean fare. It's also prominent in dishes from different parts of Africa. Now, I'll reprint the recipe here (again, credit to Mr. Samuelsson for the recipe - I love your recipes, even if I get them wrong, please don't send your legal team after me!):


Coconut-Plantain Stew
4 to 6 servings


Ingredients:

- 1 medium Spanish onion, roughly chopped
- 2 red chili peppers, seeds and ribs removed, finely chopped (I was stuck using green chilies, but it had little impact on the flavour)
- 1 cup coconut milk (that's about 250 ml. Most cans are 400 ml. I ended up using the rest of it when stirring in the plantain, see below)
- juice of 2 limes
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup peanut oil
- 5 plantains, peeled, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1-inch pieces (I used 4 larger plantains and it worked well)
- 2 teaspoons finely chopped cilantro
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
- Salt and pepper

Directions:

- In a large saucepan over low heat, combine the onion, chili peppers, 1 cup of the coconut milk, lime juice and vinegar, stirring to mix well. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the onion has softened, then remove from the heat and set aside.

- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the plantains and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, turning occasionally, until browned on all sides. Remove the plantains with a slotted spoon and drain on the prepared plate; blot them to remove excess oil.

- Add the plantains, cilantro and ginger to the onion mixture in the large saucepan and heat through over medium heat. Season with the salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.


OK, so the part where it told me to fry up the plantain pieces is where it all went wrong. And yet there was a very happy ending.

Not ever having worked with plantain before, I had no idea that it bonds at the molecular level to the frying pan while cooking! Seriously! I thought I'd be partially float-cooking chunks of plantain, instead I spent 15 minutes scraping plantain off the sides of the pan, then stir-frying them, then scraping, adding oil, etc. etc. etc. In a fit of culinary panic (or genius?) I tossed a splash of coconut rum to loosen the fried pieces from the pan which may have helped the flavour.
In the end, instead of having little fried chunks of plantain, I had something that looked more like a fried potato mash (i.e. hash browns).

But, not wanting to waste food or energy, I was determined to make the stew with the plantain "mash". How different could it be? Well, I'm pretty sure Mr. Samuelsson didn't intend for the consistency to be more like batter than stew! Because that's exactly how it turned out. In fact, I had to stir in a splash of orange juice and the rest of the coconut milk to thin it out - something I wouldn't repeat with the OJ in the future because it overpowered the flavour (next time I'll use water or beer). Regardless, what I had was not really something I could serve as is. The taste was wonderful, but the consistency needed to be changed.

Looking at this thick mush, I got an idea: Why not form it into patties/croquettes, bread it a little and bake it?

So, with a quick crank of the oven to 350, and a bit of messy forming work, stew had become patty. I quickly breaded it in regular bread crumbs and laid them out on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Now, here's the real question: How'd it turn out? Remarkably well, in fact! The patties has good consistency, were nicely dried out in baking to go from mushy to flaky, and were easy enough to eat with our hands. But the true kicker? Well, as with any good cake/patty/croquette, it needed a side dip. So, I was thinking Sriracha Mayo, but that would have been a bit too rich with such a dense "batter" as this (and it was DENSE!)

Kari to the rescue!

She suggested adding a teaspoon or so of pesto into the mix. It worked perfectly! It also looked kinda neat in the bowl before mixing. Essentially I had a tablespoon of mayo, a teaspoon of pesto and about 1/3 a teaspoon of Sriracha in a small bowl. The juxtaposition of red, white and green reminded me of those "Mexican Flag" Enchilada specials you get at Mexican restaurants. Anyhoo, I stirred that all together and it worked perfectly!

So, there you go, another case of things not turning out as expected, but still being delicious! I leave it up to you, dear reader, to try stew or patty with this one. Good luck, regardless!

Cheers!

Les mets d'chez nous! (2ième partie)

Bonjour encore!

My deepest apologies for straying from this topic for so long. So many new experiences and adventures in the culinary arts have distracted me from this cultural examination.

Mais là, ciboire, on va ben examiner d'la bouffe québecoise!

1 - Cipâte (Meat pot pie)

Imagine a massive pot pie with all kinds of meat and veggie goodness! Cipâte is one of the other French Canadian treats my mother would make when I was a kid, albeit occasionally. Like tourtière, it comes in as many variations as there are families. And in Quebec, that's a LOT!

Cipâte

Ingredients

1 ½ lbs chicken meat, cubed
½ lb sliced mushrooms
4 cups chicken stock (Mom uses her own, but for simplicity's sake, use store bought. Your local butcher probably has really good stuff for fairly cheap)
2 lbs boned pork shoulder
2 cups diced potatoes
2 lbs boneless stewing veal
2 tsp salt
1 lb boneless stewing beef
½ tsp pepper
2 cups chopped onion
½ tsp savory
1 ½ cups diced celery
1 recipe for double pie crust (see previous post)
1 cup thinly sliced carrots

Directions

- Remove fat from pork, dice finely and fry, until crisp, in fry pan coated with 1 tsp butter. Drain on paper towels and set aside.
- Cut pork, veal and beef in ¾ inch cubes and mix with chicken in bowl.
- Mix vegetables and seasonings in a large bowl.
- Scatter fried pork fat over bottom of large heavy casserole [18 cup] or Dutch oven. Fill dish with alternate layers of meat mixture and vegetable and seasoning mixture.
- Prepare pastry. Roll out to fit top of casserole. Seal pastry to edges of dish and cut several steam vents on top of pastry.
- Refrigerate dish overnight to blend flavors.
- Next day, pour in enough chicken stock through steam vents to fill pie.
- Cover dish and bake at 300 degrees until meat is tender, 4 ½ to 5 ½ hours.
- After 2 hours cooking, if pie seems dry, add a little more stock.
- Uncover dish for the last 30 mins to brown pastry.
- Remove from oven and cool for 15 mins.
- Serve with a home-made [or store bought] relish or chili sauce.

2 - Fèvres au lard (Baked Beans, literal translation: Beans au Fat)

Baked beans have never been a favourite of mine. In fact, I couldn't bring myself to eat them until the past couple of years and even then under very specific circumstances - those circumstances essentially being "when served with a metric frakton of maple syrup". But in the past couple of years, I've had samplings from various high-end restos and a sugar shack that made me change my opinion somewhat. The key is not to over or undercook the beans, because it's not the flavour that makes baked beans unpalatable, it's the texture. If they're underdone, they're this chalky mouth-torture that is the edible equivalent of a soap-beat. When they're overdone, it's more like oral waterboarding. Of course, all this can be solved (like most culinary problems) with a cup or so of maple syrup. Conversely, you can cook them well!

So, once again taking my Mother's culinary expertise in hand, here is another taste of quebecois cooking:

MY FAVORITE BAKED BEANS RECIPE

Ingredients

- 1 lb navy beans, dried
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 5 cups water
- ¼ cup molasses
- 2 tsp dry mustard
- 2 tbs sweet pickle juice or 2 tbsp vinegar
- ¼ tsp pepper mixed with specks of ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cloves
- 3 quartered onions
- ¼ lb piece of salt pork
- freshly ground pepper

Directions

- Pick over beans for dirt, etc. and wash. Place beans in a large pot, pour in 3 cups of water, cover pot and let beans soak for 8 hours or overnight.
- Add 2 more cups of water and rest of ingredients except salt pork and ground pepper.
- Bring to a boil over med-high heat. Reduce heat to simmer, and boil, covered, for 1 hour or until skins of beans begin to wrinkle.
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
- Cut salt pork at ½ inch intervals almost all the way through. Place the salt pork in a 2 quart bean pot or casserole dish. Cover with the hot beans and their liquid. Generously sprinkle with fresh pepper.
- Bake for 6 to 8 hours, covered, until tender.
- When beans are 2/3s baked, add about ¾ cup water, or enough to just cover.
- Uncover for last ½ hour of baking.

Makes 4-6 servings.

According to my mother, this isn't "authentic" but awfully tasty. However, I did some research and so-called authentic recipes are fairly similar. I did notice a lack of tomato in a lot of recipes, some in others. So, if you like a more tomato-ey flavour, add a teaspoon or so of tomato paste or a tablespoon of ketchup.

Et voilà mes amis! D'autre bouffe s'en vien plus tard.

Ribs Redux

Hi!

Well I'll be damned! Another smokey discovery recently made!

If you've ever done any research into smoking meat, you may have noticed that there are as many different ways to smoke food as there are kinds of wood. It can get a little frustrating when you're investing a lot of time and money and effort to find out how to do something the best way possible only to discover there are 50 other ways to do it that may or may not be better.

In my original post on smoking ribs, I presented the 3-2-1 method of smoking, which involves rubbing the meat and refrigerating it overnight, smoking them for 2.5 to 3 hours uncovered, wrapping them in foil (aka "tenting") and splashing them with some sort of flavourful liquid (apple juice, cider, etc.), smoking for another 2 hours, unwrapping and finishing for an hour. Now, this always produced super-tasty ribs, but they never were quite the right tenderness for my exacting tastes.

So, with that in mind, I went back into Internet Search mode and found a different technique, one which involves a bit more work and attention, but the results were fantastic. I give credit to The Smoker King for this method, which I didn't follow to the letter, so I'll break it down for you in my own words and personal tweaks.

OK, so first of all, nothing has changed with the basics. We're looking for back ribs, membrane removed, rubbed in whatever goodness you have since invented or found online (or, if you're still using one of the rubs I've posted, awesome! Thanks for the compliment!) and left in the fridge overnight.

It's the next day that things get interesting.

Once your meat has been sitting out for about an hour to get to room temperature and your fire is going, it's time to apply the new secret technique! Oooooo...

What is said technique? A ridiculously simple mop sauce.

Mop Sauce for Ribs

- 1 1/3 cups apple cider vinegar
- 2/3 cup olive oil
- pinch of rib rub (if you don't have any, just a pinch of brown sugar and a tiny pinch of cayenne will suffice) NOTE: This pinch of rub is optional. Sugar burns/caramelizes during the smoking process, and the rub contains sugar. Some of us, like me, like this crispy, burnt-y, bitter flavour. Many do not. If you don't, omit the rub/sugar and just add a pinch of cayenne and some salt.

- Whisk together in a ceramic/glass bowl with a whisk or fork

Apply a generous amount of mob sauce to both sides of the rack(s) of ribs.

Place ribs on the smoker (bone side down) and smoke uncovered for 5 and a half hours. Apply a layer of the mop sauce to the top side of the ribs every 45 minutes, no need to mop the underbelly. Also, if you can find it, try out pecan wood with your ribs, its flavour is just wonderful. If your smoker is like mine, you may need to move the ribs around a bit to ensure even cooking. Don't flip them over though.

At the 4 hour, 30 minute mark, wrap ribs in foil with the rest of the mop sauce. Smoke for another hour.

Remove, unwrap, and let stand about 5 minutes before cutting into sections.

Admittedly, this results with this method aren't as pretty as the mahogany coloured ribs you get from the first method I've used. These ribs are going to be "wetter", even before you add BBQ sauce. But the texture and tenderness is PERFECT. Well, at least the closest I've ever come.

So, the rib experimentation will continue until TRUE pork perfection is achieved!

Till then, may you smell of wood smoke and meat vapour! And may every bite be as tasty as the last!

Cheers!

Adventures in Pulled Pork

Hi everybody!

Posting today on one of my more recent forays into the world of smoking that most noble animal, the Pig!

So, after months of hemming and hawing over trying pulled pork on the smoker, I finally tried my hand at it for a Canada Day BBQ. It didn't quite go as planned (maybe I should have followed the recipe more accurately), but the end result was quite tasty.

Now, as you all know, smoking is my new favourite. But most of the cuts of meat I've done have been fairly small and easy. How would a 6 pound pork shoulder turn out? I was justifiably nervous, especially as I was making it for a party! Eep!

So, let's start from the beginning. Well, there are numerous pulled pork recipes that abound on the 'Net, so I want looking and found enough info to cobble a basic recipe in my mind and I think I had the techniques well organized. And all it took to ruin that was to watch one episode of Road Grill on Food Network... For those who don't know, Road Grill is a travelling BBQ show hosted by former CFL QB Matt Dunigan (and also features Whalesbone executive chef Charlotte Langley!). As much as Mr. Dunigan's super-jock attitude might grate on my nerves, it's actually a pretty good show.

Now, in what I thought was a moment of TV serendipity, that particular episode covered off pulled pork. Awesome! And the way Mr. Dunigan made everything look was perfectly simple. Rub pork, let sit, mop (baste) with "mop sauce" once, leave on smoker for 5-6 hours and that's that! Unfortunately, I forgot to look at the actual goddamn recipe online! If I had, I would have noticed the "mop every 30 minutes" part. DAMMIT!! As a result, the pork was well-cooked, but a little dry. The fork-tender, "pullable" quality wasn't there as I took it off the smoker. I was a bit discouraged, but I had this giant slab of pork that was tasty, albeit a bit tougher than expected, and I'd be damned if I was going let it be ruined.

That being said, it looked mostly like smoked pork shoulder should, which is this:

So jealous of the forker who got it right in this picture!

Anyhoo, with resolve and knife in hand, I began the process of carving up pieces of the cooked pork shoulder and chopping it into small pieces, giving it that pulled pork look and feel. But how to make it more tender? Well, here's where I went "out of mandate", at least out of BBQ purist mandate. See, from what I've read of "Real BBQ", it has a strong presence/following/origin in North Carolina, where the slow smoked pork is indeed fork tender and is almost always served "dry" with some sort of dipping sauce on the side. Not at all like the sauce-laden messy goodness we usually find in this end of the continent.

Well, I went with the saucy method. I turned the oven to 300 F, placed all the meat and excess fat in a roasting dish, and slathered it with the Blueberry BBQ Sauce that seems to be my new signature and popped the whole mess into the oven for about 15 minutes. The heat helped render some of the fat, which in turn moistened the meat. When I took it out of the oven, I had nearly perfect pulled pork by Canadian standards.

So, disaster averted! All our guests enjoyed the pork, and Kari got to use it to make her grand experiment of the Pulled Pork Cupcake a reality (more on that in a future post, although the recipe may have to remain a closely guarded secret). But, that being said, I learned an important lesson: don't believe everything you see on TV!

OK, now that the dramatic account of "what went wrong" has been covered, maybe I should actually show y'all how it's done, and the proper directions will be provided!

Smoker Pulled Pork

First, you'll need your meat. I suggest going with a 2.5 kg pork shoulder (aka picnic roast or Boston butt), preferably bone-in, with fat cap still attached. The great thing about pork shoulder is that you don't need to prep the meat in any way as you would with ribs or tenderloin.

Once you get your meat home, rub it with a spice rub 12-24 hours before putting it on the smoker.
The following rub is my own adaptation of the rub used on Road Grill. It was really spicy and tasty.

Rub

- 1 cup brown sugar
- 4 tbsp cayenne pepper
- 4 tbsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1 tsp yellow mustard powder
- 4 green cardamom pods, ground

Mix all ingredients together until well blended and coat meat with rub. You can apply a thin layer of olive oil or prepared yellow mustard to help the rub stick to the meat. Don't worry about the mustard changing the flavour of the meat, it's dissipated by the smoke.

Wrap rubbed meat in plastic and put in fridge.

The next day, remove meat from fridge about an hour before you put it onto the smoker so it warms up to room temperature.

While the meat is warming up, start your fire. You REALLY want to stick with lump charcoal when building a fire for smoking. I find briquettes, no matter how natural they say they are, smell (and, therefore, taste) like chemicals. And you don't want that flavouring your meat! What you do want flavouring your meat on top of the natural lump charcoal (usually maple in my neck of the world) is some sort of lovely wood chips. I used mesquite with my pulled pork to impart a strong flavour that can compliment the strong flavours in the rub and the mop (more on the mop in a moment). Soak 2/3 of your wood chips in water for at least 30 minutes. Reserve 1/3 of wood chips and keep dry.

OK, now it's time to apply your mop. A good mop is a thinner version of a basic BBQ sauce that helps keep the meat moist as it smokes.

I basically used the exact same formula as on Road Grill:

BBQ Mop


1 2/3 cups ketchup
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup fresh apple cider (I used beer instead as I had no juice)
1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
4 teaspoons paprika
4 teaspoons dry mustard powder
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon salt

Whisk all ingredients together in a glass or ceramic bowl.

Using a "mop brush" (see your local hardware store or BBQ dealer, if you're lucky enough to have such things where you live!) or simple basting brush, apply a generous amount of mop sauce to the pork shoulder before putting it on the smoker.

Once on the smoker, keep adding wood chips (2 handfuls wet chips to one dry) every 30-45 minutes to keep producing smoke. You want to smoke the pork at 250-260 degrees Farenheit for about 5 to 6 hours, and apply the mop sauce every half hour or so. You may need to add charcoal to the fire as you go to keep the heat up.

As the pork is smoking, you can make your BBQ sauce as you like it. I love my Blueberry BBQ Sauce so much, I'm linking it twice in the same post and it works wonders with pork.

Once the pork has finished smoking, you should be able to pull it apart with tongs and a fork in a large roasting pan. At this point, you may want to stir in your sauce to serve it "wet" or leave as is to serve "dry".

Serve on fresh buns topped with a bit of coleslaw for crunch with BBQ sauce for dipping on the side.

NOM ON THAT B*TCHES!! YEAH!

A simple meal for Summer and my favourite condiment!

Hello fledgling and full-fledged culinary aficionados,

Alright, it's time to bring it back to the easy. After gourmet steaks, polenta tortes, smoked pork and gold-leaf encrusted foie gras emulsion of rubies (OK, I made that last one up), it's time to rein it in a little and get back to the quick and easy. It's Summer, there's way too much outside to enjoy to be stuck in the kitchen for 3 hours.

Now, with all cooking, there are basics that everyone should have in the pantry/kitchen. A couple of bulbs of garlic, an onion or two, a couple of tomatoes, a stick of butter, a dozen eggs and a bottle of olive oil. With just that, you could eat pretty damn well! But, most of us crave a little variety in our diet. This can easily be achieved with a few pre-made storebought items that allow you to perk up the most basic meals into something quite tasty. Best thing is, chances are a lot of these are items you have sitting around in your fridge or pantry and might fly under the radar when you're thinking of what to make for dinner.

So, with that in mind, let's look at one quick and easy meal item that can be made with very few ingredients and almost no time: Salmon Patties. I got this one from Kari's mom, confirmed it online, and tweaked it a little. Still, easy as all git-out!

Salmon Patties - Makes 4 patties - Serves 2

Ingredients

- 1 can Sockeye salmon

- 1 egg

- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs (I used panko)

- 4 tbsp onion, minced

- 1 clove garlic, minced

- Black pepper to taste

- Additional seasonings to taste (I used a pinch each of chili powder and basil)

- 4 tbsp cooking oil for frying (olive, canola, etc.)

- Drain salmon and put in mixing bowl.

- Crack egg and add to salmon.

- Add remaining ingredients (except oil) and mix with hands.

- Form into patties, ensuring air is squeezed out and patties hold their shape.

- In a large frying pan (preferably cast iron), heat oil on medium-high heat.

- Using tongs, gently set patties in oil and cook for 5 minutes on one side until golden brown, flip and cook other side.

- Serve on buns for salmon burgers or on their own with a generous dollop of Sriracha Mayo (see below) and a nice salad.

So, that's dinner! Now, let's talk about Sriracha!

In case you don't know what Sriracha is, it's this super-tasty, fairly spicy hot sauce from Thailand (or is it Vietnam?), easily recognized by the squeeze bottle with a rooster logo on it (hence, why it's often called "cock sauce").

Move over ketchup! This is the new staple 'red sauce'

 

(image from: http://theittybittybloghorn.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/blogsriracha.jpg)

I happen to love the stuff, so much so that I bought the cookbook! Lots of fun recipes in it, even one for making Sriracha Salt!

Srircha Mayo

In a bowl, stir together about 1 tsp of Sriracha sauce with a half cup of mayo and the juice of a quarter lime.

That's it!

Enjoy!